Client care letter and file-opening checklist: transparency rules, cancellation rights and due diligence checked before the work starts

"Client care letter", "client care letter conveyancing", "client care letter example": nine of the top template searches in this sector are the same document, and the reason is that the letter is where three regulators' rules land on one page. This checklist runs them together.

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New matter file-opening checklist: transparency rules, client care letter contents, cancellation rights and due diligence, checked

ServiceResidential purchaseResidential sale or remortgageProbate, uncontestedImmigration application or appeal (not asylum)Employment tribunal claim (unfair or wrongful dismissal)Summary motoring offence, magistrates' courtDebt recovery up to £100,000 (business client)Business premises licence applicationOther work ClientIndividualBusiness How the retainer was agreedIn the officeBy email, phone or online onlyAt the client's home or elsewhere away from the office Price information for this service is published on the websiteYesNo Client care letter and terms sentYesNo Identity verified and CDD recordedYesNo Client is a PEP, or funds or client linked to a high-risk third countryYesNo Source of funds and wealth documented (purchases)YesNo Conflict check run and recordedYesNo

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The seven checks for a purchase

1. Transparency rules. Residential conveyancing is on the SRA's list of services for which price information must be published on the website: the total cost or a range, the basis of charging, disbursements, VAT, what is included, the key stages and likely timescales, and who does the work with their experience and that of their supervisors. If the page is not there, the work should not be taken until it is. The transparency guide covers the whole list.

2. Client care letter. The best possible information about the overall cost and how it is calculated (Code 8.7), what is and is not included, who does the work and who supervises, the complaints procedure with the Legal Ombudsman's details and time limits (8.3 to 8.5), that the firm is regulated by the SRA, and the client's cancellation rights where they arise.

3. Cancellation rights. A retainer agreed with an individual by email, phone or online, or at the client's home, is a distance or off-premises contract under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. The client has 14 days to cancel. The letter must give the cancellation notice and the model form; if it does not, the period runs for up to a year and a day, and work started inside the 14 days without the client's express written request may not be chargeable. A retainer agreed in the office carries no such right; a business client has none.

4. Client due diligence. Identity verified and recorded, with the documents seen or the electronic result and the date, and the client and matter risk assessment completed on the file.

5. Enhanced due diligence, where the client is a politically exposed person or the client or the funds connect to a high-risk third country: senior management approval, source of wealth and funds established, enhanced ongoing monitoring, all recorded.

6. Source of funds and wealth, on every purchase: where the money comes from, evidence of it, and a fee earner's note that it is consistent with what is known of the client. The AML review checklist is what the SRA reads this against.

7. Conflict check, run and recorded on the client, the other party and the property.

Other services

Probate (uncontested), immigration, employment tribunal claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal, summary motoring offences, debt recovery up to £100,000 for businesses and premises licensing are the other listed services, and the checklist applies the transparency check to each. Work outside the list drops that row but keeps the client care, cancellation and due diligence rows, which apply to everything.

Why the cancellation row is the one that bites

AML is inspected and firms fear it; the cancellation rules are not inspected and firms forget them. The cost is quieter: a client who was never given the notice can cancel months later and the fee for the work done is in dispute. The fix is a paragraph and an attached form in every letter for a retainer not signed in the office.

Who signs

The COLP owns the transparency and client care rows, the MLRO the due diligence rows, and a supervising solicitor signs the file open. An AI File Opener set up by Overlyft runs this checklist on every new matter from the intake form and the case management system, prints the Pass and Fail list for the fee earner, and holds the file at "opened, not yet chargeable" until the Fails are closed. The update template then takes over once the matter is live. Regulated work; this is general information, not legal advice.